Cheap eats in LA: The best restaurant weekly specials

This Los Feliz favorite features a $15, three-course Monday supper of Italian comfort foods from New Orleans-born chef Brandon Boudet. Laze on the sidewalk patio or in comfy red booths to enjoy this steal-of-a-deal dinner. A recent menu consisted of roasted grape salad with gorgonzola, house-made strozzapreti with chicken sauce and vanilla bean rice pudding. To drink, $12 bottles of red and white wine are on offer, plus $3 Perroni beer.

Notable mention: Every week, chef Kris Morningstar offers an ad hoc family-style dinner at Ray's. His Monday "staff meals" consist of a casual, off-the-cuff, three-course menu ($35) fit for chefs and thrifty diners.

This Echo Park bistro's $5 Wednesday burger nights are legendary around town, but we like to dine in on the second night of the week for the $15, three-course Speakeasy Tuesday. Snag a table on the patio and enjoy a meal that can include lentil soup to start, chicken piccata (eggplant parmesan for vegetarians) and dessert.

Josie Le Balch runs one of the better Cal-Med restaurants in LA at this self-titledSanta Monica favorite. Le Balch's market-driven quality comes at a premium with entrées that routinely top the $30 barrier. However, on Wednesday nights, a three-course Farmers’ Market Menu is offered for $35. You can expect seasonal dishes such as pear salad with red walnuts, crispy duck confit with spaghetti squash and Jonna’s pumpkin pie, named for pastry chef Jonna Jensen.

Notable mention: Beachside dining doesn't have to break the bank. Every Wednesday night, Shutters on the Beach's more casual restaurant, Coast, offers a $29, three-course farmers' market menu.

The only meal that tames Huckleberry’s perpetual line and brings full-service to the bakery/cafe is the $30, three-course Thursday Night Family Dinner. Communal-style dining brings in Westside locals, couples and families who break bread over Milo & Olive baguette with garlic confit; endive salad with apples, arugula, blue cheese, Niman Ranch bacon and candied walnuts; free-range chicken pot pie and Brussels sprouts with grainy mustard and poached pear tart. Vegetarians can request meat-free, while kids under 12 eat for half-price and kids five and under eat for free.

Give chef Andrew Kirschner seven days notice and he’ll prepare a large format, family-style feast any night of the week at his seasonal Santa Monica destination. Entrée options for the three-course dinner include paella ($42), standing rib rack served with sides such as horseradish potato purée ($46), roasted redfish ($38), and, perhaps his most impressive offering, wood-fired goat ($44) brined in North African spices, sous vided and finished in a walnut and oak wood oven. Accompaniments consist of couscous, roasted carrots with chermoula crème fraîche and currants, piquillo pepper harissa and pickled tomatoes.

Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne's cafe/bakery churns out soups, salads and pastries around the clock. But on evenings, you can score a three-course dinner for $19—one of the best deals in town. While other restaurants offer prix-fixe specials once a week or on weekdays only, there's a budget meal to be had at this Brentwood outpost every night of the week. On Saturdays, fill up on homemade old-school garlic bread, Caesar salad and bucatini with lamb meatballs with spiced tomato, crumbled feta and black olives.

Suzanne Goin and wine-savvy front-of-house partner Caroline Styne's perennial Cal-Med favorite has found so much success with the Sunday Suppers that the communal dinner series inspired its own cookbook. The $45, three-course menu changes weekly with the seasons and draws diners in droves. A recent menu included chicken liver crostini with black Mission figs, crispy pancetta and aged balsamic; a choice of grilled fish with sweet corn, soft polenta, chanterelles and black truffle butter or lamb osso bucco with white beans, haricots verts, black olives and pine nuts; and Pink Lady apple crostata with crème fraîche and rum raisin ice cream for dessert.

Notable mention: Dominick's offers three courses for $15 every Sunday from 5pm-1am. The offerings change week to week, but a recent menu included butter lettuce with lemon vinaigrette, chicken stew and olive oil cake with oven-roasted strawberries.